Google's email about buying Epic??| Understand how VCs think??| Learnings from Doordash??

?? Hey everyone and welcome to Explore, your weekly Startups and VC podcast. I’m Hugo Rauch , the writer of this newsletter and my goal is to help founders accelerate their growth and successfully fundraise. I love talking with my audience, feel free to DM me!

Summary: 
- Thank you to our sponsor ??
- Google's email about buying Epic ??
- Understand how VCs think ??
- Learnings from Doordash ??        

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Google's email about buying Epic??

Here is Google's email about buying stakes in Epic, and why it matters for founders.

A bit of context

In 2018, Fortnite had 200M users, and Google looked at purchasing part of the company as a way to boost growth in it's strategic business.

What was the rational?

According to Google, Fortnite could have boosted Google's growth across:

? YouTube (already 100M+ increase in game watch time)

? GCP (to shift 130M+ players from AWS)

? Yeti (Fortnite + Unreal Engine support for all games)

? Ads (similar to but smaller than Ironman)

? Android (Play store, security, etc)

How much Google wanted to invest?

Google considered spending around $20 billion to acquire 20% stake in Epic.

That would have valued the company at $100BN.

In 2022, Epic received investment from Sony and Lego. The company was valued $31.5BN.??

Big opportunity cost for Epic.

Key takeaways

1. Companies often take defensive action, part of the rational was to counter AWS. Consider this as part of your exit strategy.
2. Big Tech evaluates synergies, if your goal is to sell, you should show your vision for product integration into the company's broader strategy
3. Just because you can get an investment, doesn't mean that you should, Epic did very well without Google's money. But remember that valuations are not set in stone. In retrospect Epic's founder could have enjoyed the $100BN valuation.

Thank you for reading this post. If you want to support my work, you can leave a 5 stars review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. ?

Understanding how VCs think will help you raise money faster.

Why?

VCs write memos for every deal. It's the only documents presented to partners. Without a great memo, there is no deals. ?

Understanding what goes into a memo helps you tailor your pitch and make the job of VCs easier. In turn, the opportunity will be assessed faster.

4 memos to read

? Shopify: https://lnkd.in/eNTi9mwG

? Pinterest: https://lnkd.in/eVb7PRdT

? Twitch: https://lnkd.in/eAjqRWHH

? Twilio: https://lnkd.in/ey-Z6Suk

Learnings from Doordash??

Here is 3 learnings from DoorDash's application to YC. ??

1?? Start with your customer’s problem

The founding team conducted 100+ interviews.

They listened closely to customers.

They understood their problems.

And they built a solution around it.

This is probably the fastest way to PMF.

2?? Build the strongest team you can

2 formers engineers at Facebook. 1 former founder at Vivo. 1 product editor at Square.

They worked on real projects. They had different jobs. They were strong!

3?? Become an expert before scaling

Starts ? PaloAltoDelivery.com

Scaled ? DoorDash worldwide

They became good at their craft.

They understood it by doing it (they were all drivers).

And then they conquered the world.

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Hugo ??